Today I finally made a visit to the reviving Chatsworth Market where I found out what halloumi is, bought a lovely bit of fruitcake and scoffed a tasty portion of sate wrapped in roti from Chock's Wok. I also met Diane Cunningham of the traders and residents association who expressed confidence about the market's future. The number of stallholders has risen to thirty from a pre-Christmas sixteen. Almost all of them are local people, trying their hand at market trading for the first time.

The market's Facebook page tells us that it is scheduled to continue running fortnightly through June and July and that the long-term goal is to go weekly. With the Sunday Morning Market at Rushmore school and Hackney Homemade behind the Book Box also doing business just a spit away, there seems every chance that Chatsworth Road could develop into a thriving Sunday market centre.
Continue reading "Chatsworth Market & Other Localist Initiatives" »
This is what will rise from the ruin of the late public convenience, assuming the Council's planning committee gives the go-ahead next month. The architect is Claridge (I trust they don't mind my reproducing their image) and the development of the site would be a joint enterprise involving Ali Demirbag of IDP International Properties Ltd and Temel Alp, who owns Fairdeal Foods and bought the site a few years ago. You can see details of Mr Alp's application via here, including this report from Claridge which provides a lot of useful insights into the thinking behind the design.
Continue reading "The Future For That Famous "Former Toilet"" »
With the next edition of the Hackney Gazette expected to report on local opposition to a Tesco Express taking up residence at 144-146 Lower Clapton Road, this might be a good moment to fortify emotion with cold-eyed realism. Like all the fellow residents in the photograph above (taken yesterday), I love the friendliness and individuality of Palm 2 and many of our other local shops. The prospect of any of them being driven out of the business thanks to a branch of the ravenous Tesco giant having the mass buying power to undercut them on price is distressing.
Continue reading "Tesco Trouble" »
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